Itsuko Hasegawa

Itsuko Hasegawa is the most famous woman in Japanese architecture and the most prominent figure in the Shinohara School, and her influence on the architecture of Japan cannot be overstated. Her work often plays with the boundaries between the natural and the artificial: one of her most famous buildings, the Yamanashi Museum of Fruit, is composed of various different but related curvaceous fruitlike forms. Itsuko Hasegawa: Island Hopping - Crossover Architecture presents some of her most innovative and provocative recent projects, including the Fukuroi Culture Center, the Shiogama Lifelong Learning Center, the Kurahashi Community Center, the Namekawa Housing Project and her latest project, the winning entry for the Niagata City Performing Arts Center. This monograph provides an essential look at the work of a designer who has earned her place alongside such figures as Rem Koolhaas as one of the most important architects of the past three decades.… (more)